FLASHBACK: Orioles latest team identified in MLB sign-stealing scandal

Revisiting the most unlikely of cheating scandals

Amid the recent allegations of sign-stealing by the University of Michigan football program and the previously busted cheaters, Houston Astros, being bumped from the playoffs, today we go back to 2020. In one of the very first stories Battle Line broke, we look back to a cheating scandal that no one saw coming. First published January 19, 2020.

In a news conference this morning, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed that the Baltimore Orioles are the latest team identified in the sign-stealing scandal that has gripped the sport over the past few weeks.

Manfred’s bombshell announcement comes just a week after a report that revealed the Houston Astros used complex video and technology equipment to steal opponents’ signs and relay them to hitters.

It has led to stiff penalties against the Astros and the subsequent firings of Houston manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow. Boston manager Alex Cora (Astros bench coach in 2017) was released by the Red Sox, and Mets manager Carlos Beltran (former Houston player, and the only player named in the report) was fired before ever managing a single game in New York. There is widespread speculation that the Red Sox have committed similar infractions, which the league continues to investigate.

What is bizarre about the allegations against the Orioles is the franchise’s relative lack of success when compared to the Astros and Red Sox. Whereas Houston and Boston each claimed World Series titles in 2017 and 2018 respectively, Baltimore has been reliably one of the league’s worst teams, finishing just a cumulative half-game ahead of cellar-dwelling Detroit over the past three seasons.

How exactly to punish a team that finished with well over 100 losses in consecutive years for cheating is a challenge Manfred addressed during his morning news conference.

“Obviously, the actions outlined in the report are unacceptable and have no place in the game,” Manfred said before a roomful of reporters paralyzed by disbelief. “That said, we will have to continue to look at the totality of the situation before we have a full grasp of what punitive steps, if any, can even be taken against this organization.”

For their part, the Orioles are fully cooperating with Major League Baseball’s investigation and even preemptively volunteered to vacate the previous two seasons. “Take ‘em, wipe ‘em right off the map, never even happened,” said emphatic O’s owner Peter Angelos.

The report detailed some of the specific techniques used, which were at least creative, if not altogether airtight.

An individual with binoculars seated in the upper-left window bay of the brick warehouse beyond right field would read the catcher's signs and adjust the window blinds depending on the pitch selection. For fastballs, the blinds were completely pulled up. For off-speed pitches, the blinds were closed halfway. If the blinds were fully closed, it meant the game was out of reach and the spy had gone home.

But that was only the first part of the routine. Someone across the stadium with a clear view of the window would then relay the sign into an earpiece worn by a vendor who patrolled Section 26 near home plate.

After receiving the relevant information, the vendor would either exclaim "peanuts," for fastball, or "cracker jack," for breaking ball. Due to their close proximity, hitters would hear the cues and thus know which pitch was coming.

As one might expect, the system experienced some hiccups. Occasionally, fans would loudly request either peanuts or cracker jack, which, if their order did not align with the pending pitch, would create immense confusion for hitters.

Second, as the season progressed into warmer months, concession management often replaced the vendor's inventory to reflect patron preferences. Understandably, fans were perplexed, and in some cases angered, upon seeing a vendor yelling "peanuts" and "cracker jack" while carrying a container of only lemon ice.

Finally, and most detrimental, relaying the signs through three people and several hundred feet required a great deal of time, to the point that the vendor's proclamations were often one or two pitches behind.

In the team's September 3rd loss to Tampa Bay, the blinds, worn out by so much use, broke free from the windowpane and were out of commission for several innings. The man receiving the signs from the window, unaware of the situation, continued relaying fastball. The Orioles were shutout that day.

Realizing the need for change, the team switched to a far more efficient technique, in which signs were relayed to the scoreboard operator who then simply flashed the pitch selection on the giant screen in centerfield. Opponents caught on immediately. However, concluding that Oriole hitters were no more likely to make contact either way, visiting teams played along without protest and even found the challenge quite enjoyable.

Manfred’s report remained vague as to what Baltimore, which finished last season ranked in the bottom third of nearly every offensive category, truly gained by cheating.

This news has predictably generated tangential conspiracy theories, including that opposing teams not only quickly picked up on the Orioles’ system, but that they even somehow hijacked it and used it to their own advantage during games at Camden Yards. This theory remains wholly unsubstantiated. However, where facts do not support this claim, statistics might.

While Baltimore’s lineup was, by nearly every standard, unthreatening, it’s pitching rotation was far worse, finishing at or near the bottom in team ERA, strikeouts, batting average against and hits allowed. The league-high 305 homeruns surrendered by Baltimore hurlers in 2019 were a breathtaking 30 more than the next-closest team.

It is clear that journalists and pundits throughout baseball media are still trying to put the pieces together.

“I just find the whole thing puzzling,” said ESPN baseball analyst Tim Kurkjian. “There had been accusations for a few years that the Astros were stealing signs. The recent report simply confirmed what many had been saying for a long time. But to now learn that a team as unsuccessful as the Orioles were also swept up in this, who would have seen that coming?”

Baseball Tonight’s Buster Olney echoed those comments.

“Considering Baltimore’s immense struggles in recent years—and that’s putting it mildly—it begs the question: Were the Orioles just really bad at cheating? Or is their record since 2017, as putrid as it is, still somehow inflated thanks to the cheating?” he said. “If the latter is the case, then these Orioles clubs may easily go down in history as not just the worst baseball team ever, but perhaps the worst sports team, period.”

Despite being specifically cleared of any wrongdoing, Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde was spotted walking through the clubhouse carrying a large cardboard box full of personal belongings. A source close to the team confirmed that Hyde had not been fired by the front office.

Pressed by reporters on why someone who had been completely exonerated and who still had his position as manager was seemingly leaving the premises with no apparent intention of returning, Hyde simply said, “I—I gotta get out of here.”